An Astounding Value in Italian White Wine

I always love discovering value wines and boy, have I found one! It’s the 2011 Bibi Graetz “Casamatta” Bianco from Tuscany. Bibi Graetz makes a wide variety of white and red wines (as well as a lovely rosé) from several growing areas in Tuscany. Of course, it’s the more expensive wines that get much of the attention (human nature, I suppose), but what a delight it is to report that this white is a first-rate value and bottom line, an excellent wine!

This is a blend of grapes from vineyards near the seaside town of Castiglione della Pescaia in the province of Grosseto in southwestern Tuscany. It’s a blend of 60% Vermentino – the perfect variety for this location near the Tyrrenhian Sea – 30% Trebbiano and 10% Muscat. If you think that the Vermentino and Muscat lend some beautiful aromatics to this wine, you’re right! My notes detail the lovely perfumes of fresh red apple, honeydew melon and magnolia flowers, while there is very good depth of fruit and a rich, flavorful finish with striking natural acidity. This is aged solely in stainless steel to let the perfumes emerge – why mess with oak in a wine like this? – and it’s beautifully balanced, dry and absolutely delicious!

I’d love to pair this with shellfish – this would be especially great with sautéed shrimp or prawns – but I’d also enjoy it with vegetable risotto or even a chilled chicken salad.

Bottom line – you don’t have to think about a wine such as this. It’s made for food and it’s delicious, so just drink it!

Best of all, it has a suggested retail price of $13. That’s $13! Please let me know if you can find any other Italian white – or white wine from anywhere at $13 that’s this good (and from as famous a producer). You can’t afford to miss this wine!

P.S. The artwork on the label is by Bibi Graetz himself.

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tom hyland

I am a freelance wine writer and photographer specializing in the wines of Italy. I live in Chicago and recently completed my 69th trip to Italy. I have visited virutally every region in the country and am constantly amazed at the wonderful variety of wines produced from indigenous grapes (I am never amazed at the quality of the wines!).
I have been in the wine business for 35 years, have been writing for 17 years and have been a professional photographer for the past eight years. I currently contrubute to publications such as Decanter and wine-searcher.com. I am a freelance photographer for Cephas Picture Library in England and have had my photos published in the publications above plus several more.
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2 thoughts on “An Astounding Value in Italian White Wine”

I live in the US, so I don’t know the stores in London, but yes, Bibi Graetz does export his wines to the UK. I just took a look on wine-searcher.com and saw a listing for this wine at a store in Yorkshire, so I’m sure you’d have no problem finding this.